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Dordt College News

Contest winner ‘sings like a champ’ at Twins game

Dordt alum Elliot De Wit can sing, act, and make videos … but he can’t resist ice cream.

That was the winning combination that landed him and three friends $5,000, plus free tickets and a public appearance at the Minnesota Twins vs. Oakland A’s game Friday, Sept. 17.

Premiering on the Target Field jumbotron Friday was the winning video in a Wells Blue Bunny/Minnesota Twins “Sing Like a Champ” video competition.

The video was created by De Wit along with his brother Dave (a senior digital media production major at Dordt from Alton), Kenny Gradert (a senior at Dordt from Ireton), and Jeremy Brue (Dordt Class of ’10, now a graduate engineering student at Iowa State).

The contest was open to residents of Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Entrants were asked to create a tune with lyrics including a reference to the Twins and Blue Bunny. The song had to be submitted in the form of a two-minute music video, using a Champ! Cone as a microphone.

Elliot was the lead character in the commercial, and his brother Dave came up with the concept and served as producer. Thanks to their connection with the Dordt digital media program, they were able to borrow three high definition cameras from the college for filming the video. After more than 15 takes, a lot of ice cream cones, and about five hours of editing, they had created the winning entry.

In the jumbotron video, Elliot repeatedly attempts to sing into the Champ Cone, only to succumb to temptation and sneak a bite off the top of the cone. The “film crew” eventually walks off the set, leaving Elliot to finish the video on his own.

After two rounds of voting by the public, the video was voted into the top 10, which meant free custom Minnesota Twins jerseys for the four, as well as vouchers for ice cream from Blue Bunny. Their entry then proceeded to the finals, where it eventually won. The prize? A check for $5,000 and free tickets to the Twins game Sept. 17.

Dordt senior Dave De Wit is currently in Los Angeles interning in the Film Studies Program, so he made a special trip out for the game. The four were invited to lead the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch.

The contest video is not the first for these young men: Elliot took digital media classes during his college years (Class of ’07) and participated annually in Dordt’s Prairie Grass Film Challenge. De Wit’s team, “Duck, Duck, Goose! Creations” claimed Best in Show last year, and in two previous film challenges team entries placed second.